Facebook Bug Hits 800,000 Users, Makes Blocked ‘Friends’ Unblocked

If you were wondering why you were still seeing posts from that annoying “friend” from high school on Facebook, the social network announced on Monday several hundred thousand users were hit by a bug that unblocked profiles they’d previously blocked.

Facebook said more than 800,000 users were hit by the bug. The issue was active from May 29 to June 5, according to a company blog post.

“While someone who was unblocked could not see content shared with friends, they could have seen things posted to a wider audience,” wrote Erin Egan, Facebook chief privacy officer. “For example pictures shared with friends of friends. We know that the ability to block someone is important — and we’d like to apologize and explain what happened.”

Egan said the bug did not reconnect users with people they’d previously unfriended, and that 83 percent of users impacted only had one user flip from blocked to unblocked.

The bug is the second problem Facebook has notified its massive 2.2 billion monthly users about in the last month. Facebook recently said 14 million users had their share settings unknowingly switched from private to public for about a week in May. Both issues came on the heels of the Cambridge Analytica data leak from earlier this year, when more than 80 million users had their profiles unwittingly accessed.

Wall Street doesn’t appear to mind the bugs, however, with Facebook’s stock ticking up 1 percent on Monday — hovering near its all-time high around $200 a share.

The U.S. House Intelligence Committee on Thursday released more than 3,500 advertisements and posts spread by Russian trolls before and after the 2016 U.S. election. Below is a look at 10 of the most shocking examples that stood out from Congress's reveal.

House Intelligence Committee

Many posts pushed the narrative that Hillary Clinton would confiscate guns if she were elected President.

House Intelligence Committee

This graphic meme painted cops as KKK members attacking a young black child.

House Intelligence Committee

Only "sissies" and other undesirables wouldn't support Donald Trump, many of the memes said.

House Intelligence Committee

President Obama was a "pawn" and "traitor" in the hands of "Arabian Sheikhs," said one 2016 ad.

Russian trolls also used Instagram to spread sponsored political memes.

House Intelligence Committee

The "Blacktivist" page routinely shared memes on Colin Kaepernick and other football players kneeling during the national anthem.

House Intelligence Committee

"Heart of Texas" routinely posted on "Killary Rotten Clinton," and threatened to secede from the union if she won the election.

House Intelligence Committee

The "Being Patriotic" page labeled ex-cons as "Obama voters."

House Intelligence Committee

1 of 11

Congress just released 3,500 posts touching on a myriad of topics

The U.S. House Intelligence Committee on Thursday released more than 3,500 advertisements and posts spread by Russian trolls before and after the 2016 U.S. election. Below is a look at 10 of the most shocking examples that stood out from Congress's reveal.